The Stamp Act And The American Revolution

One of the acts was the stamp act. This was a way to force the colonies to help pay off the war debt. The British pushed the Stamp Act through Parliament in March 1765. This act required Americans to buy paper, newspapers, playing cards, and legal documents such as wills and a marriage license strictly from

     The passing of the Stamp Act by Parliament in 1765 caused a rush of angry protests by the colonists in British America that perhaps "aroused and unified Americans as no previous political event ever had." It levied a tax on legal documents, almanacs, newspapers, and nearly every other form of paper used in the colonies. Adding to this hardship was the need for the tax to be paid in British sterling, not in colonial paper money. Although this duty had been in effect in England for over half a century and was already in effect in several colonies in the 1750?s, it called into question the authority of Parliament over the overseas colonies that had no representation therein.

The American Revolution, one of the most significant events in our world’s history, has established a huge impact on not only life back in the eighteenth and nineteenth century but our society today. The Acts of Parliament highly benefited the British but did not afford those same rights to the colonists until the formal issuing of the Declaration of Independence on July 4th, 1776, in which colonial freedom was granted. The most controversial issue is which group caused it; a result of propaganda by the colonists. Multiple acts and protests contributed to this war, three influential ones being the Stamp Act, Boston Massacre and the Boston Tea Party.

The Stamp Act was passed by the British Parliament on March 22,1765. It was a taxation on any piece of paper like, legal documents, playing cards, newspapers, etc, and once payed it got a stamp put on it. The reason for the act was to help pay the debt of the Seven Years’ War (French and Indian War). This act affected all the colonists from the wealthy to the poor. What affected the colonists the most was that they had to pay in silver coins and silver was very difficult to find in the colonies. Like the Sugar Act many colonist protested violently and nonviolently. One violent protest was “harassing” tax collectors by destroying their homes and threatening them. A nonviolent protest was boycotting British goods hoping for the act to be repealed.

Due to the Sugar and Quartering Act, the relationship with the British is strained, quickly moving to an impending confrontation because of the festering descent among the colonists. The extensively detested Sugar Act, which potentially endangered their lucrative profits from the rum trade, and the Quartering Act, which stated that the colonies would support the British troops by housing and feeding them, was at a monumental crossroad (Schultz, n.d.). However, it was the Stamp Act which would light the fuse and blow the powder keg into a full-blown revolution. The controversial Stamp Act, which was passed in 1765, mandated a tax levied on all official paper documentation forcing all printers to decide whether to stop printing or abide by using the stamped paper risking those who opposed (Mellen, 2012). This was the turning point, unifying educated and powerful opposition contributing to the Revolutionary movement.

During the early 18th century, Britain began to assert its presence in its American colonies, but with pressing domestic issues at home, only minimal attention was initially paid to the colonies. Britain’s interest in her colonies and the potential for conquest and resources grew during the Seven Years War, but the interest was primarily for further conquest west of her colonies not in the interest of fighting for the protection of the colonies. This war left Britain with an enormous debt of almost four hundred thousand pounds, so Parliament instituted new taxation on the colonies to compensate for the debt; one of these taxes was the Stamp Act. Imposed in January 1765, it demanded that all formal documents have an official stamp on them; an

The Stamp Act had far reaching historical significance as it was the first policy that British Parliament passed that directly taxed the American colonists and it set into motion a chain of events that would lead to the breakout of the Revolutionary War. The Stamp Act was introduced by British Prime Minister George Grenville and was passed by Parliament in March of 1765 to take into effect November 1, 1765. Its purpose was to tax the American colonies in order to help alleviate the debt that the English had incurred due to the French and Indian War and help raise money for the British army that was stationed in the American colonies. The Stamp Act required tax stamps on every piece of printed paper the colonist used, such as ship papers, legal documents, newspapers and licenses. The English government also demanded that the tax be paid in gold or silver specie, which outraged the colonists as most used paper currency or credit because gold and silver specie was difficult to acquire.

started a political revolution that only made the colonists grow stronger as a people. The Stamp

The colonists started out with salutary neglect, the king did not govern them. Then came the Navigation Acts in 1651 that said that all imports must be by British ships. This is the first of many acts to come. Next is the French and Indian war which leaves Britain with a massive war debt. The king now must tax the colonists for the war debt. The Albany Plan of Union is proposed by Benjamin Franklin, but declined. The proclamation of 1763, The Sugar Act, The Stamp Act, The Quartering Act and the Townshend acts cause massive protests and boycotts. The Boston Massacre occurs on March 5, 1770. Samuel Adams uses this as a time to spark anti-British feelings among the colonists. He has Paul Revere, a local silversmith, engrave two propaganda pictures

The Stamp Act which was passed by Parliament, put taxes on all of the paper products in the colonies. The document was officially passed in London, England on March 22, 1765. The major reason for putting the Stamp Act into effect was that after the British won the French and Indian War there was a lot of debt to be paid. To get rid of the debt Parliament decided to make the colonists pay for it by putting taxes on all their paper documents. Some of the paper products that were taxed were, books, newspapers, licenses, and even decks of cards. The colonists reacted by threatening tax collectors to quit their jobs, mentally and physically. Eventually the Stamp Act was repealed, leading the a new set

This cartoon was made by the British during the time of the Stamp Act and the Boston Tea Party. Even though it has it's literal meanings, there are also hidden meanings within this cartoon. The man covered in feathers is a great example of inferiority created by the Bostonians in the cartoon, this would also be the focus point of the whole cartoon. In the background you can see a few men pouring tea into the ocean. Finally, the noose hanging from the tree and the poster that says "Stamp Act" means that the Americans were trying to get rid of the stamp act.

1. The new add on to the stamp act was the taxing of the colonist on the paper products they use. This caused a problem because the colonist had no representation in parliament to decline the proposition.

In my opinion, the Stamp Act of 1765 was the most important piece of legislation because it caused more Colonists to object it fiercely and the result was the resolution passed in New York mmediately following it (Holton, 18), but the Stamp Act caused the greatest organized resistance (digital.usembassy.gov, 48). The objection was that it extract money from the colonialist without their consent, so it violated the principle of taxation without representation ( 18). In October 1765, twenty seven delegates from nine colonies met in New York to coordinate efforts to get the Stamp Act repealed (18). The resolutions passed assert the individual colonies rights to impose their own taxes. Colonialists produced political leaders, who worked together

After the Seven Years war England needed money to pay costs from the war. So they felt that the Colonies needed to help and pay some money for the costs. They even tried to control some of the Colonies territories, to insure that they receive the money they thought was owed to them.

The stamp act was a tax put on American colonies by Britain.The tax was placed on all sort of printed materials including newspapers,magazines,and legal documents.It was called the stamp act because American colonists were supposed to buy paper from Britain that had a stamp on it to show that they had paid the tax.The money from the taxes was used to be used to help pay the costs of defending and protecting the American frontier near the Appalachian Mountains.Colonist thought that the tax was to help raise money for Britain.Colonist did not want to pay something that won't benefit them but will benefit Britain.